Naruto, Rise of the Puppet Sannin
by On Soaring Wings
Summary: Instead of joining the Akatsuki, Sasori saves a four-year-old Naruto from a beating, and takes him off to train for four years. Powerfull Naruto. Naruto/Harem. Now up for adoption.
1. Sinner or Savior?

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(Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and sorry if everyone is a little too OOC, I'm just trying to tell a story according to my own vision.)

A four-year-old Naruto was laying in an alley way getting the crap kicked out of him by a group of villagers.

"Die demon!" Was among the many foul things they shouted as they beat, stomped, and stabbed the boy without any form of compassion or mercy. The lead villager then walked up to the boy, raising a katana to deliver the finishing blow. When all of a sudden the was a giant scorpion-like tail sticking out of his chest. The villagers then turned and saw what looked like some kind of humanoid monster standing in their midst.

"Leave this boy alone, or you will all die." He warned.

The villagers paid no heed to his warning and charged him. The man responded by unleashing a barrage of senbon from his mouth, and right arm. In a matter of seconds all the villagers had fallen dead. Just then Sarutobi the Sandaime Hokage, and a small team of ANBU escorts Shunshin'd onto the scene.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Sarutobi demanded. "Who are you?"

"My name is Sasori no Akasuna." The man responded. "And I have come to take Naruto Uzumaki away from this village."

Sarutobi knew that Sasori was an S-ranked missing-nin from Suna, who was currently wanted in suspicion of involvement in the disappearance of the Sandaime Kazekage. "And what makes you think I am going to even consider allowing such an asinine thing to occur?" He asked.

"Because I recommend it." A new voice rang out as Jiraiya of the legendary Sannin arrived on the scene.

"Jiraiya!" Sarutobi yelled in amazement at his former student in association with a criminal like Sasori. "What is the meaning of this?" He asked in a calm, but clearly annoyed voice.

"It's a long story." Jiraiya responded. "Perhaps we should continue to discuss these matters elsewhere?" Jiraiya suggested.

Sarutobi took a moment to think before answering him. "Very well, meet me in my office." He then turned to the ANBU. "You two take Naruto to the hospital, and make sure he receives the best possible care." The ANBU nodded before grabbing the badly wounded boy and Shunshin'd away.

(Later in Sarutobi's office.)

"So basically you have two options." Sasori said to them as they sat in his office. "You can either let me take the boy as Jiraiya-san wants me to, or I can take the boy and run off with him myself."

"Either way he's much better off then if he stays in this village." Jiraiya added.

Rubbing his temples Sarutobi countered their argument. "Even if I agreed with your plan, the council will never allow it."

"The council doesn't have to know shit!" Jiraiya yelled in anger. "I'm not going to stand idlly by, and watch my prized pupil's son's life be made a living hell by those bastards!"

"Then may I ask why you don't take him then?" Sarutobi then asked.

"I would if I could, but between monitoring Orochimaru, and the Akatsuki I don't have the time or the resources to take care of him right now." Jiraiya answered.

"And you Sasori?" Asked Sarutobi. "What is your angle? What do you stand to gain by raising, and training this boy?"

Sasori remained quiet for a moment before responding. "A legacy."

"Beg pardon." Sarutobi asked clearly confused.

"This child is the last of the Namikaze cla-" He began only to be cut off by Sarutobi. "YOU TOLD HIM?!" He hollered at his former student.

"I did'nt have a choice!" Jiraiya yelled back.

"May I continue?" Sasori asked in an annoyed tone.

"My apologies." Sarutobi went. "Go on."

"As the last of his clan he'll be allowed to practice polygamy when he comes of age. Is that correct?" He asked and received a nod from Sarutobi. "If I train him to be a puppet master, then perhaps future generations of his clan shall also pursue the art, thus creating the first actual puppet-user clan in all the major Shinobi villages."

Sarutobi did get a bit of a slight smile on his face. He then turned to Jiraiya. "Are you sure he can be trusted?" He asked.

"I'd bet all my legal rights to Icha Icha on it." Jiraiya stated proudly.

"I must be losing my mind... but I'd like to hear more of what you have planned for him." Sarutobi said as the three of them proceeded to talk and plan through the night.

The next week Naruto was secretly taken out of the village by Sasori. As far as anyone knewm, He had been sent to live in another village, only Sarutobi, and Jiraiya knew the truth, and that was how it remained for almost four years. Until the boy's return.


	2. The Return

**Chapter: 2 (The return)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto franchise. Again I apologize if this story turns out to be less than what you were hoping for. I'm not trying to write a great story, just a story.**

A figure clad in a black kimono top, baggy black pants, and brown wajari sandals approached the gates of Konoha. He was stopped at the gate by two Chuunin guards.

"State your name and buissness." One of them said.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I'm returning from a four year trip." He responded

Upon hearing his name the Chuunin were reluctant to let him in, however before they could say anything Sarutobi arrived. "Ah Naruto, It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you again Hokage-jii!" Naruto said as he came forward and gave the man a hug.

"Sarutobi couldn't help but laugh at Naruto's antics. Noticing Naruto was by himself, he then asked. "Where is Sasori?"

"He said he had other matters to attend to so he had me come here on my own." Naruto answered. "He did tell me to give you this though." He said as he handed Sarutobi a large scroll.

"I see." The Hokage said. "In the meantime you can stay at my clan compound until we can find you a more permanent residence."

"Cool!" Naruto said. "In the meantime I'm gonna have a look around the village." Before Sarutobi could say anything Naruto had Shunshin'd away.

_"He learned the Shunshin?!" _Sarutobi thought in amazement. _"What was Sasori teaching him?"_

(Later)

Naruto had just came upon a place called "Ichiraku Ramen", when he saw a thirteen-year-old girl being accosted by a couple of young boys. The girl had just slapped one of them, when they made a move to grab her. They never got the chance. As a four-armed puppet carrying four rapiers appeared and scarred the boys off. Naruto then ran over to help her. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"I'm... Okay." She answered. "Did you save me from those two?"

"Yep I did, with my puppet." Naruto answered as he made the puppet walk over to them. "This is my puppet. I call him Fencer."

"Well thank you." The girl said as she gave the boy a quick peck on the cheek. "My name's Ayame, and my dad owns the Ramen shop over there. Wanna come in and try some? It's really good."

At the mention of food Naruto had bolted into the shop.

(In Sarutobi's office)

Sarutobi had opened the scroll and read the contents inside.

_**Hokage-sama**_

_**I don't have much time to write this so I'll try to be quick. As you may have noticed by now Naruto has indeed made a good deal of progress. Here is a list of what he has learned.**_

_**Ninjutsu: The boy has made excellent progress in this field. This is where the absolute most progress has been made. Among the techniques He has managed to learn in addition to the Kugutsu no Jutsu are Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Tajuu Kage Bunshshin no Jutsu, Henge no Jutsu, Kawarimi no Jutsu, Tree climbing, Water walking, Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu, Goukakyuu no Jutsu, Nawanuke no Jutsu, Shunshin no Jutsu, Kage Shuriken no Jutsu, Suikoudan no Jutsu, Suirou no Jutsu, Ayatsuito no Jutsu, Baku Suishouha, Bikou Ninjutsu, Bunshin Bakuha, Chakra Kyuuin Jutsu, Daitoppa, Doro Gaeshi, Kai, Kakuremino no Jutsu, Kanashibari no Jutsu, Kirigakure no Jutsu, Konbi Henge no Jutsu, Shinnju Zanshu no Jutsu, Shuriken Kage Busnhin no Jutsu, Soushuuha, Opening of the first two Hachimon, and finally the Hitokugutsu.**_

_**Taijutsu: Naruto has made a good deal of progress in this field. He has developed two different fighting styles. One involves using Kage Bunshins to overwhelm the enemy, the other is strictly a defence oriented style designed to be used in conjunction with his puppets.**_

_**Genjutsu: This is most likely the field in which Naruto has made the least progress. While he hasn't to my knowledge learned any notable Jutsu in this field, he can detect and dispel most Chunnin level, and some Jonnin level techniques.**_

_**Fuuinjutsu: In this particular field, Naruto has learned a great deal. He has studied extensively in the use of various seals and their different uses, and has even been working on ways to create new seals. (Don't despair. He hasn't done anything to the Kyuubi seal, Nor will he even try for a long time.) It is my firm belief that he will eventually reach, and most likely surpass his father in the use of seals.**_

_**Puppets: From day one Naruto has studied in this field. Even with the help of the Tajuu Kage Bunshin, it took him almost three months to develop the necessary chakra control to use this technique. At this pint he is skilled enough to control a single gennin level puppet with one finger. In terms of the puppets themselves, while he has designs and prototypes of several puppets, in battle he tends to relay on only a select few regular puppets, and he only uses his Hitokugutsu in certain circumstances (See below for more detail on the Hitokugutsu.)**_

_**Hitokugutsu:...**_

Sarutobi began reading the final entry on the letter, after a minute he dropped the scoll, uttering a simple. "Kami."

(Later)

After finishing his ramen Naruto was now walking along a seemingly rich part of town, when he saw two girls. One had short blue hair, and looked to be around his age, while the other appeared to be around three, or four, and had longer brown hair. Both had pale lavender eyes, with no pupils which Naruto recognized as the Byakugan. It appeared that the older girl was practicing some sort of fighting stance. Naruto ran over to them.

"Hi there!" He said.

The older girl seemed to stare in shock for a second before responding. "He... He... Hel... Hello." She said.

The younger girl was apparently far more outgoing. "Hi there! How are you? My name's Hanabi, and this is my sister Hinata. What's your name?" She said with a lot of childish enthusiasim.

"My name's Naruto." He answered. "So what are you two doing?" He asked.

"I- I'm practicing my Taijutsu." Hinata answered.

"I see. Well I'll see you later. Hinata-chan, and Hanabi-chan." Naruto said as he ran off leaving two flustered young girls.

(A few minutes later.)

Naruto then came along a girl practicing shuriken throwing. She had brown hair that was up in two buns. She was also not doing very well. Naruto came up to her.

"Excuse me. You're holding them wrong." Naruto explained to her. He then showed her the proper way to hold them while throwing them. The girl tried this, and noticed the improvement.

"Wow thanks a lot!" The girl exclaimed. "What's your name?"

"My names Naruto!" Naruto told her.

"I'm Tenten." The girl told him.

"Nice to meet you Tenten. I've gotta run, I'll see you later." Naruto said before running off.

(Even later)

Naruto was walking through a grassy field, when he came across two girls sitting and gossiping. One had platinum blond hair, and the other had pink hair.

"Hi there." Naruto said as he walked up to them.

"Oh hello." The pink-haired girl said. "Who are you, I haven't seen you before."

"Oh I live in this village, I just went away for a few years. My name's Naruto."

"Oh well hello Naruto." The blonde said. "My name's Ino, and this is my friend Sakura."

"It's nice to meet you." Naruto said. "I need help with something. Can either of you tell me where the Sarutobi clan compound is?" Naruto asked.

"It's on the other side of the village." Ino answered him.

"Ok thanks, I gotta run. It was nice to meet you." Naruto said as he took off.

"Hmmm." Ino hummed as she thought for a moment. "He's kinda cute."

"Yeah..." Sakura said. "But not as cute as Sasuke."

At the mention of Sasuke both girls sighed dreamily. When they noticed the other girls actions, they immediately began to growl at each other as electricity arced between their eyes.

(A little bit later.)

Naruto was walking along the a busy street in the village, when a drunk villager came at him swinging a metal pipe.

"Die demon!" The drunken man shouted. "We don't want you here!"

Naruto knew he couldn't fight back lest he give the other villagers more fodder against him. He was about to run away, when a woman with black hair and onyx eyes tackled the man to the ground. As Naruto looked at her, he couldn't help but think that she was utterly beautiful.

"Leave him alone!" The woman shouted. "He's done you no wrong."

At this point a woman ANBU with long purple hair, and a cat mask showed up. "What happend here?" She simply asked.

Another two women showed up who Naruto recognized as kunoichi. One had purple hair, and the other had dark hair as well. Both women were dressed in outfits that were revealing at best. "This villager tried to attack this young man for no reason, and this woman promptly came and stopped him." The dark-haired kunoichi explained.

"Yeah just as Kurenai, and I were about to help, she came at him like lightning." Kurenai's companion said.

"I see." The ANBU said."I will have this man taken care of." She then grabbed him, and shunshin'd away.

"Uh thanks for helping me." Naruto said to the three remaining women.

"No problem!" Kurenai's friend boasted. "Anyone here gives you trouble, just let me know, and I'll kick their asses."

Kurenai sighed. "I'm gonna go back to my place. You comming Anko?"

"Yeah sure." Anko said. "See ya later kid." As they walked off. Naruto then turned to the woman who saved him. "Thank you for helping me there's not a whole lot of people who would do that."

The woman then to Naruto's surprise gave him a hug. "Please don't worry about it Naruto." She began. "It's the very least I could do for you." She then stood up, and began to walk away. "Wait! Can you tell me your name?" Naruto asked her.

"Mikoto... Uchiha Mikoto is my name." She said before continuing to walk away. Although Naruto couldn't see it, there her beautiful onyx eyes were starting to tear up.

"Thank you Mikoto-hime!" Naruto shouted. Naruto then began to notice it was getting late. _"I'd better get to the compound, luckily I can see it from here."_ Naruto thought as he ran towards the Sarutobi district. As he came upon the compound entrance he had one last thought on his mind.

_"How did she know my name?"_

**Well That's the end of chapter 2 I'm sorry if you find it lacking, or if you think I made Naruto too powerful too early on. Like I've said before I'm not trying to write a great story, just a story** **according to my original vision. I just want to let you know that Naruto will have a very large harem. (Probably over 20 females.) I'm gonna end this with something that I will put at the end of a chapter every time I debut a new puppet in this story. A puppet profile.**

**Name: **Fencer

**Description:** A humanoid puppet standing about Five feet one inches tall. It has four arms and is dressed in the garb of a typical sporting fencer.

**Weapons: **4x fencing rapiers, mounted in pairs on waist, hand-carried in use, can be poisioned; 2x shuriken launcher, mounted in wrists of upper arms, can be poisoned; 2x paste bomb launcher, mounted in lower arms; detachable hands.


	3. Throwdown! Prodigy versus Prodigy!

**Chapter: 3 (Throw-down! Prodigy versus Prodigy!)**

**Disclaimer: Once again I do not own the Naruto franchise. I hope you find this chapter to be suitable.**

A few days had passed since Naruto had returned to Konoha. In that time Sarutobi had managed to find him a place to live in a small apartment building that was recently abandoned due to the previous owners arrest for producing narcotics. Naruto had managed to do several repairs and renovations in the course of a day and a half, thanks in part to the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. He had also been apart of a meeting with the council, a meeting went went about as well as fingernails on a chalkboard. He could tolerate dealing with the clan heads, as at least they seemed to be reasonable people (Except for that prick Fugaku.), but the civilian council led by Haruno Ikuku was unbearable to be around. They constantly spouted hateful words towards him, and were trying to take every step to have him either killed or exiled. The absolute worst was a disfigured old man named Danzo who seemed to take Naruto's side only because it seemed he wanted to use the boy.

Luckily for Naruto he had the Hokage, and the other clan heads on his side. So thus Naruto was pretty much given freedom to do whatever he wanted, while he waited to start at the academy. He could still remember the conversation with Sarutobi.

_(Flashback)_

_"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO GO TO THE ACADEMY HOKAGE-JI?!" Naruto yelled. "I've already learned more then what they have to teach!"_

_"I'm sorry Naruto." Sarutobi said in a voice that was sympathetic, yet annoyed. "It was part of a compromise with the Council. You have to go to the academy and stay until you graduate with the other students your age."_

_"DAMNIT!!" Naruto yelled as he stormed out of the office. Leaving Sarutobi to sigh._

_(End flashback)_

Naruto was leaping through the trees when he saw something suspicious. He saw a young kunoichi arguing with a young shinobi. He recognized the girl as being from the Inuzuka clan, along with the boy as being an Uchiha.

"Itachi please talk to me." The girl pleaded. "Why are you acting so cold to everyone?" Itachi simply remained silent. "Is it true? Did you kill Shisui? Please just tell me you didn't do it."

Itachi stood there silently before walking away. "DAMMIT ITACHI WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER ME?!" The girl yelled. Itachi then suddenly Shunshin'd behind her. "You've always been in my way Hana." He said as he knocked her out with a chop to the neck, then quickly Shunshin'd away.

Naruto leaped down from the tree. He quickly created a Kage Bunshin and ordered it to tend to Hana. He then took off after Itachi.

(A few seconds later.)

Naruto came upon a small clearing in the forest. He saw Itachi standing along with Danzo, and a man in an orange mask that covered all but his right eye.

"Your late." Danzo said to Itachi. Itachi responded with. "My apologies I got held up elsewhere."

Danzo merely grunted before responding. "You know what to do." He began. "Kill as many as you can. I assume you still have no problem killing your own family?"

"No I don't." Itachi responded. "The clan has become a pathetic shell of what it once was. Only by it's demise can a stronger greater breed of Uchiha rise to power."

"Well spoken my student." The man in the mask said. "We shall make this village pay for their lack of vision, by taking away their precious coveted Sharingan. I shall finish the task I started eight years ago."

_"Eight years?" _Naruto thought._"Is he talking about the Kyuubi?"_

"Now go Itachi." The man said. "Go and prove your power by wiping out the Uchiha." The masked man said. Itachi simply nodded before he shunshin'd away.

_"Kami! He's going to kill the Uchiha. Well I suppose I wouldn't mind if that Fugaku-teme was killed, but what about... OH KAMI MIKOTO-HIME'S IN DANGER!! I have to save her!"_Naruto thought as he quickly shunshin'd after the traitorous Uchiha.

(Meanwhile at the Uchiha compound. Fugaku, and Mikoto's house.)

Mikoto Uchiha was thinking she was thinking about the poor child of her dear friends Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki. She remembered how she first saw the child after the Kyuubi attack, and the horror she felt as her husband joined the other villagers in calling for the child's death. She tried to protest, but she was drowned out in the uproar, and when she tried to reason with Fugaku, he actually had the nerve to strike her! It was the first and only time he had ever layed a blow upon her person, but that was enough to put the fear in her. As a result she did nothing to help the boy while for four years he had suffered. Then he disappears, and less than four years later he had suddenly reappeared. She had wanted to help him, to be there for him, but she could not do much while under Fugaku's eye, and divorce was not an option available to women in their clan. She just did not know what to do.

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by several screams. She then heard three words from a random Uchiha that made her blood run cold.

"Itachi's gone mad!"

(Outside the house.)

In the span of mere seconds the bodies of several Uchiha littered the streets. Every Uchiha ninja was trying their best to fend off the former pride of the clan, and one by one they fell before him.

"Damnit Itachi why are you doing this!" Fugaku Uchiha yelled.

"To build a better world, the old one must be torn down. I shall start with this clan." Itachi coldly remarked as he took out the last four ninja Uchiha. "Now time to meet your end father."

"No Itachi don't do it!" Mikoto pleaded as she ran out of the house, and in between her husband, and her oldest son.

Itachi didn't respond, instead he raised his sword and made a move to stab his sword through them both. Realizing her death was coming at her, Mikoto closed her eyes and braced herself for it.

However the feeling of cold steel penetrating her insides and slicing through her organs never came. After a second she opened her eyes, and in her horror saw Naruto standing before her with his own body penetrated by Itachi's sword.

Naruto then turned his head towards Mikoto, and giving her a small smile. "Don't worry Mikoto-hime. I won't let him hurt you."

The look on Fugaku's face was a combination of flustered, dumbfounded, worried, and somewhat pissed. "What the hell are you doing here boy?!" Fugaku yelled with about as much gratitude as the panther has for the rabbit that became his meal.

"What does it look like I'm doing!" Naruto yelled. "I'm saving your pompous ass!"

Itachi then took the opportunity to whip out a kunai, and stab Naruto in the head, but to his suprise the Naruto he stabbed turned into water. _"Mizu Bunshin."_Itachi thought, but before he could think anymore about ten more Naruto's came down around him. They all charged at him throwing punches. With the aid of his three-tomoed Sharingan eyes, Itachi managed to dodge every blow, and began dishing out blows that dispeled each Kage Bunshin. When the final clone was taken out, Fencer came charging at Itachi with all four rapiers slicing through the air in a rapid, seemingly random fashion. Itachi veered and dodged easily avoiding the lazy assault. Just as he was about to counter attack the puppet, Naruo leaped out of hiding above him with a dozen kunai with exploding tags attached floating around him.

"Suishouha!" Naruto shouted as the Kunai fell around Itachi while Naruto had Fencer move away. Itachi had just enough time to leap away from the blunt of the attack before the tags could go off, however the force of the explosion still caught him in mid-air sending him flying. In a display of amazing acrobatic prowess, Itachi came to a graceful landing on top of a nearby building. Seeing that Fugaku, and Mikoto were still standing there, he tried throwing kunai at each of them, but before they could connect a pair of Kage Bunshins intercepted them.

Itachi jumped down from the building and slowly walked up to Naruto. "Why do you interfere in matters that are hardly your concern?" He asked.

"Because it's the right thing to do." Naruto shot back. "I don't know why you've decided to do the things you've done today, and to be honest I don't care! I won't let you hurt my precious person!"

_"Precious person?"_Itachi thought. _"Is he talking about Mother?"_

Mikoto was stunned. _"He's risking his life to defend me? How could he, after all the harm I allowed to befall him?"_ She wanted to run to him, and yell "Get out while you still can, and do not bother to save me," but her legs, and mouth felt like the were made of lead.

"Now I'll show you what a puppeteer can do!" Naruto shouted as he whipped out a scroll, and wiped blood across two separate kanji. In a massive puff of smoke two more puppets appeared. One resembled a six-foot-tall, morbidly obese clown, while the other looked like a nine-foot-tall version of the infamous Kyuubi no Kitsune, except for the fact that it had three heads instead of one, and a lions mane.

"Meet Kyuubi Cerberus, and Killer Clown." Naruto said as he had the two new puppets, and fencer surround Itachi. Itachi noticed that Naruto was controlling was Kyuubi Cerberus with his right hand, and was manipulating both Fencer, and Killer Clown with his left. Itachi knew the best way to end this fight, would be to not attack the puppets, and instead to focus his attacks on taking out the boy. He threw a kunai at his head, but Fencer moved in front of him, and blocked the projectile with it's rapiers. Killer Clown then fired a kunai from it's mouth at Itachi, but he dodged it. Kyuubi Cerberus then leaped into the air, and fired a blast of fire from the mouth of the center head down on Itachi. Itachi leapt out of the way narrowly avoiding being burned by the flames. Killer clown then raised it's arms, and fired several senbon out of it's fingers at Itachi. Itachi couldn't fully avoid the attack and several senbon were stuck in non-vital parts of his body.

_"It's too bad I did'nt have time to poison their weapons, but right now I have to make the best of it._Naruto thought. When he landed Itachi ran towards Naruto, and looked at him, his Sharingan eyes then seemed to take shape with the tomoes merging with the pupil. Just then Naruto heard a voice in his head.

_**"Don't Look in his eyes!"**_ Went the voice.

_"What the..." Naruto thought "Who's this?"_

_**"We can discuss that later gaki, but right now do not look in that Uchiha's eyes, or we will both be fucked understand!" **_The voice in his head boomed.

At the last split second Naruto turned his head away, just as Itachi let loose the Tsukuyomi, avoiding the deadly Genjutsu. Naruto then had Fencer rush him from behind, and attempt to skewer him. However before he could connect the attack Itachi seemingly exploded sending Fencer flying.

"What the! Bunshin Bakuha? But where's the real one?" Just as Naruto said that, he heard heard a chilling voice say. "Amaterasu." Naruto turned to see a wave of Black fire coming at him.

**Sorry for the cliffhanger. I just wanted to get the third chapter up as soon as possible, and I just felt this would be a good place to end it. I hope you enjoyed what you saw. In the meantime here are two more Puppet profiles**

**Name:** Killer Clown

**Description: **A puppet designed to resemble a six-foot-tall, morbidly obese clown. This puppet is built for mostly defense due in part to it's thick layers of armor underneath the clown garb.

**Weapons: **Kunai launcher, mounted in mouth, can be poisoned; 10x rapid fire senbon launcher, mounted as fingers in hands, can be poisoned; Acid shooter, mounted in "flower" on left side of chest; Detachable self-destructing head.

**Name:**Kyuubi Cerberus

**Description: **A wood, and metal replica of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, except for the fact that it has three heads instead of one, and a lion's mane.

**Weapons: **High powered flame thrower, mounted in mouth of center head; 84x razor sharp teeth, 28 mounted in mouth of each head, can be poisoned; 8x retractable foldable side cutting blades, mounted on "ribs", can be poisoned; 6400 single-shot senbon launchers, 600 on each tail, and 1000 in the mane, can be poisoned; 9x steel spike, mounted on tips of tails, can be poisoned; Detachable side heads.


	4. Survival Means Everything

**Chapter 4: (Survival means everything!)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto franchise.**

As the Amaterasu washed over Naruto Itachi knew that no one could have survived that attack. Therefore when the attack died down, it was a great surprise to him that a large metal dragon had blocked the attack with it's wings, which were now burning with the black flame.

"What do you think of my newest puppet Itachi." Naruto said with a smirk. "I call it Tetsuryuu!" With a flick of his wrist Naruto had the wings drop off before the ebony flames could reach the main body. "I've been working on this puppet the better part of a year. I admit it doesn't look as impressive without the wings. Now since you've revealed a powerful fire attack, I'll reveal one in turn. Tetsuryuu Special: Burning Dragon Vortex!" Tetsuryuu opened it's mouth, and to Itachi's great surprise fired a combined blast of fire, and a large spinning gust of wind. Itachi tried to dodge to the side, but the whirlwind caught him, tore his sword out of his hand, into the fire where it promptly melted, and blew him almost a hundred feet before crashing into a side of a small house.

Naruto broke control of Tetsuryuu, and pulled out a kunai. He walked over to Itachi's body to finish him off. When he next to the body however, Itachi quickly grabbed him, spun him against the wall, and locked eyes with him. "Tsukuyomi." Itachi coldly said as Naruto's world around him disappeared.

_**(Inside the world of the Tsukuyomi.)**_

_**Naruto found himself tied to a cross, in front of him were three Itachis**_

_**"For the next seventy-two hours I will do nothing but stab you." The center Itachi said as all three of them pulled out out kunais. "And for every time you beg me not to, she will be stabbed in your place." He said pointing a another cross which had Mikoto on it, and three Itachis standing before her.**_

_**"No! Leave her alone!" Naruto yelled in anger.**_

_**Itachi said nothing he just simply began stabbing, not bothering to acknowledge the screams.**_

(Back in the real world)

Itachi let Naruto go, the boy fell to the ground with no resistance or movement. Itachi pulled out a kunai, and raised it to deliver the finishing blow, when suddenly he heard a voice in his mind. _"Itachi that is enough return to me imediatly."_

_"Very well Madara-sensei. I shall do as you command."_Itachi thought back. He then turned to Fugaku, and Mikoto. "You were fortunate to survive today, but rest assured someday we will finish what we started." With that he Shunshin'd away.

Mikoto was confused as to what was happening, but she was even more confused when she saw Fugaku pull out a kunai, and walk towards Naruto. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"What does it look like?" Fugaku countered. "I'm going to kill the boy."

"What!" He yelled. "Why would you do such a thing?"

"Because he's a demon child, this is the perfect time to get rid of him."

"But he saved our lives!" She tried to reason.

"All the more reason to do it. We can't have people know that this monster saved the great Uchiha clan."

"You're the monster here!" Mikoto yelled in anger. "Minato, and Kushina were our friends, and this is how you repay their friendship? By murdering their only child, the one who just risked his life to save us, and several others in cold blood?!"

Fugaku reared back, and slapped her so hard he drew blood. "DO NOT question me you soft hearted woman!" He shouted with rage in his eyes. He then turned and knelt next to Naruto to slit his throat.

Mikoto looked down, and saw a discarded kunai laying at her feet. She instantly knew what she had to do to save this precious boy. Picking it up, she lunged at Fugaku, and with all her strength stabbed him in the back of the neck where the spine was. Fugaku froze for a moment, then promptly dropped on top of Naruto dead.

Mikoto stared in shock at what she had done. She looked at her shaking hands, but could not feel them. She began to hyperventilate. Without thinking, she pulled Fugaku's lifeless body off of Naruto. She then held the unconscious boy close to her chest and began to sob in utter hysterics.

The woman's tears fell on Naruto's face as he began to lightly stir. "Miko... Mikoto-hime?" Naruto weakly asked.

Mikoto took a second to compose herself. "Yes Naruto, I'm here." She said.

"Are you... Safe?" He asked.

"Yes I'm okay don't worry just rest. I'll protect you now." Mikoto said as she held him closer.

"Thank... you." Naruto said as he went back to sleep.

Mikoto then began to cry while holding him tight, and that's the way she was found when the ANBU arrived, and the remaining Uchiha's came out of hiding.

(Inside Naruto's mind)

Naruto awoke to find himself in some kind of dark, damp sewer. He found himself in front of a large cage.

**"I told you not to look in his eyes Gaki!" **A voice boomed out.

Naruto groaned. "I thought he was dea- Wait a minute who are you?" Naruto took a look at the cage, and saw a thirty-story-tall fox with nine tails laying inside. "The Kyuubi! What is going on here?!"

Naruto could have sworn he heard a sigh from the fox. **"All these years, and you still havent figured it out."**

"Figured what out?" Naruto asked not sure he was going to like wherever this was going.

**"Take a second look at the seal on your stomach, and see if you can not put two and two together." **The fox suggested.

Naruto didn't need to look. It all made sense now. "KAMI!! You're inside me!"

The Kyuubi laughed. **"At last you know, and now that you do we can discuss how we came to this point, but first allow me to speak to you eye to eye."** With those words, the fox began to shrink, and change form at a rapid pace until withing seconds it had taken the form of a beautiful woman. "She" had shoulder-length red hair, and red eyes. She was wearing a formal-looking, blood-red, shin-length kimono, with no footwear. She had three features that made her stand out as non-human. One was the fact that she had claw-like nails on her fingers, and toes. Second were the two fox ears on her head. Last (but not least by a long shot) were the nine red fox tails that protruded out of her lower back.

As Naruto looked at her he had one thought on his mind. _"Beautiful."_

"Now." the Kyuubi said in a normal human voice. "Lets talk. I assume you heard that masked man talk about finishing what he started eight years ago."

"Let me guess. He was talking about you." Naruto said.

"You catch on fast gaki." Kyuubi complimented. "That man is Uchiha Madara one of the founders of Konoha, and the man who summoned me to destroy it."

"Wait! Why would a founder of Konoha want to destroy it? That makes no sense." Naruto stated.

"His reasons for doing so are not in my knowledge I'm afraid." Kyuubi answered. "I never wanted to attack Konoha, I don't like hurting people if they've done me no harm, but he clouded my mind, made me think things that, and I- I..." She placed her head against the bars, and began to cry slightly. "And to see you have to suffer all those things that were done to you, and to know that it's all my fault." She then began to sob.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. Demon or not, if she really was sad then he had to comfort her. He reached through the bars and gave her a hug. She was surprised,but after a few seconds she began to hug back. "I'm so sorry for all I put you through." She said.

"It's okay. I don't blame you." He said soothingly as they embraced each other for a long time.

(The next morning: Konoha Hospital)

Naruto awoke to find himself in a hospital bed with Mikoto in the bed on the right, and the girl he helped after Itachi knocked her out before the massacre in the bed to his left. Sarutobi was standing before him.

"Good morning Naruto." The Sandaime said. "I think we need to have a little talk. Can you tell me what happened last night?"

"Yeah Hokage-ji. Sit down it's a long story." Naruto said as he began to tell the sordid tale of what happened the previous night.

**And that's where I'm gonna end this chapter. For those of you who think this chapter was not as good as the previous chapters, well I sadly would have to agree with you there. I feel this was not the best work I've put out. The next chapter will most likely deal with the aftermath, and repercussions of the Uchiha massacre, then we'll time-skip to the gennin exam. I know it doesn't sound good, but I'll do my best to make it at least mildly entertaining, and in the end isn't that all a writer can do? Anyway enough with the self pity. Here's another puppet profile.**

**Name:**Tetsuryuu (Iron Dragon)

**Description: **A sixteen-foot-tall, humanoid dragon puppet with wings, and a large tail. (If you've seen the Marvel Comics super villan Dragon Man, it basically looks exactly like that, except with metal plating instead of a leathery hide.) Note: At Naruto's present skill level at this point in the story it requires both hands to operate.

**Weapons: **Katon/Futon thrower, mounted in mouth, fueled by a sealing scroll; 2x quadruple kunai launcher, mounted in wrists, can be poisoned; wings can be used for flight, or as shields.


	5. Truth and Consequences

**Chapter 4: Truth and Consequences.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise. I only own the puppet designs.**

(The morning after the Uchiha massacre. Danzo's mansion.)

Wabisuke Danzo was sitting in his office sipping quietly at some sake. He was content in the matter that the Uchiha were wiped out, he knew there was no way Itachi could have failed at that task. The loss of the Uchiha would be tragic, but in the long run necessary for Konoha's survival. The Uchiha were beginning to grow too powerful, and Fugaku was becoming more, and more harder to appease. The rest of the village knew this to be true, but he was the only one willing to do what was necessary to quell a potential rebellion before it began. Of course killing Fugaku alone wouldn't be enough no. In order to fully prevent an uprising, all but a select few of the clan would have to be wiped out. There was no time to waste on trying to figure out who was truly loyal. Sarutobi the soft-hearted fool, like all the Hokage's before him could never understand that.

His thoughts were interrupted by one of his loyal ROOT ANBU bursting into his office. "Lord Danzo!" He cried. "The village has turned against you. several ANBU, and Jonnin are descending upon this place to arrest you as we speak!

"What!" Danzo yelled. Just then three ANBU crashed through the window. One was the purple-haired woman in the cat mask. Another was a brown-haired man in a bear mask, and the center one was a silver-haired man in a wolf mask.

"Wabisuke Danzo." "Wolf" began. "You are under arrest for the crimes of high treason, and mass murder. Come quietly or die."

"I won't go down that easily." Danzo said as three more ROOT ANBU appeared to fight, and he made a run for it. Little did he know that his mansion was surrounded by over eighty Konoha Jonnin, and ANBU, and that his ROOT ANBU who numbered little more than thirty, were being decimated. When all was said and done, Danzo lay dead. He had committed suicide with a poison capsule rather then face capture. His loyal unto death ROOT ANBU, were wiped out save for one. A young boy named Sai, but that is a story for another day.

(Time-skip four years later.)

Almost four years had passed since the day that Danzo died, and much had changed.

The first thing that had happened was Naruto had gotten a lot more respect. Being labeled as the one who prevented the Uchiha clan from being fully wiped out, had helped him prove himself as a hero in the eyes of many in the village. There were exceptions like Haruno Ikuku, (Mother of Haruno Sakura who in the ultimate twist of irony was one of Naruto's friends.) and Naruto's teacher Mizuki.

The Uchiha clan were the ones who tended to hold Naruto in the highest regard. Under the direction of Mikoto, the surviving thirty Uchiha were always welcoming towards Naruto, and sticking up for him. The only Uchiha who didn't seem to like him was Uchiha Sasuke, the second son of Mikoto, who generally didn't like how close Naruto was towards his mother. In the time since the massacre only one Uchiha had graduated the academy. A girl named Uchiha Suzu, who graduated a year before with average grades.

Naruto had continued to train relentlessly. He spent at least six hours a day, four, or five days a week training and studying in various fields. With the aid of Tajuu Kage Bunshin, he has able to gain anywhere from hundreds to thousands of hours of training in one day. As a result his arsenal of techniques had nearly tripled by the time of his final year in the academy. Although they were mostly Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Fuuinjutsu.

In the time since the massacre only two major instances of crisis within the village were known. The first was one year afterwards when Jonnin Rokushou Aoi stole the legendary Raijin blade and attempted to flee the village. He didn't get far though as his mutilated corpse was found about a quarter-mile outside the village, the Raijin not on his person. The second was when the legendary stupid brothers Fuujin, and Raijin (No relation to the sword.) broke out of prison, and went on a rampage throughout the village in search of food. After several Konoha shinobi drove them into the forest. They mysteriously disappeared the only clues left behind being trace amounts of blood spatter. There were rumors and speculation that Naruto was involved in both instances, but all investigation into the matters went nowhere. As far as Sarutobi was concerned it was a matter of "Don't ask, don't tell." For the other villagers as far as they were concerned about the missing missing-nin, it was a classic case of "Good riddance."

Naruto had also grown close to several of his fellow classmates of the academy. Among his friends were Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Hinata, Akamichi Choji, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Ino Yamanaka, and Haruno Sakura. Naruto had also befriended a boy named Rock Lee who had graduated a year before, along with Konohamaru Sarutobi, the Hokage's grandson. He always found time to spend with his friends, often hanging out at Ichiraku ramen, where he had become the favorite customer for Tuechi Ichiraku, and his daughter Ayame.

In general it was an interesting time, and it was only going to get more interesting in the future.

(The day of the Gennin exams.)

Naruto was having breakfast at Mikoto's home as he usually did. Mikoto had changed her appearance somewhat, as the new head of the Uchiha clan. She now wore a dark purple kimono similar to the one the Kyuubi had worn in Naruto's mind, that Naruto had managed to have made for her fortieth birthday. Her nails were also painted a light lavender color, a practice she hadn't done since Fugaku had forbidden her from doing so early in their marriage. She had also begun to undergo mild Shinobi training for the purposes of self-defense, even managing to activate her latent Sharingan. After they (Naruto, Mikoto, and Sasuke.) ate a delicious meal Mikoto had cooked, Naruto, and Sasuke departed for the academy with wishes of luck from the Uchiha clan head.

(At the academy)

Naruto was waiting for his name to be called. He watched as the other students departed for the jutsu test with the majority passing.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Called the voice of Umino Iruka, Naruto's second teacher. Naruto sat up, and followed him into the next room.

"Okay Naruto you know what you have to do." Iruka began. In the span of less then five seconds, Naruto had managed to Henge himself into a perfect copy of Iruka, Kawarimi'd places with Mizuki, and created nine Kage Bunshins of himself.

"He fails!" Mizuki shouted. "The test calls for regular Bunshins, Not Kage Bunshins!"

"There's no rule against that Mizuki, and you know it!" Iruka shouted effectively silencing him. "Even if it was Naruto's scores are more then high enough to pass. Congratulations Naruto, you pass." Iruka said as he handed him a Konoha forehead protector.

_"Dammit." _Mizuki thought to himself. _"There goes my fall-guy, now I have to steal the forbiden scroll myself. Luckily I still have my back-up plan."_ He thought as he rubbed his right forearm.

"Yes!" Naruto said as he exited. _"This calls for a celebration. Ichiraku here I come!"_

(Later that night.)

Naruto was in the middle of downing his sixteenth bowl of ramen when he felt a familiar sensation as one of his new found. "Sensory seals" had picked something up. The sensory seal was a Fuuinjutsu he had been able to develop with the Kyuubi's help. The seal created a picture of an eye, and an ear, and when the user was within a couple of kilometers the seal would continue to broadcast limited sensory information directly into the users mind, so long as the seal was intact. Naruto had about a hundred of these seals in strategic points around Konoha. Carefully hidden, and protected by elaborate genjutsu. They were Naruto's primary source of information throughout the village. Naruto saw Mizuki breaking out of the Hokage mansion with the Forbidden Scroll. Quickly excusing himself, and paying for his ramen, Naruto ran off to the point he figured Mizuki would most likely take to escape, and prepared to intercept.

(A little later: Forest of Konoha.)

Now with his curse seal activated to level one. Mizuki threw his last giant shuriken at Iruka, who barely managed to dodge it getting his arm cut slightly. "Mizuki why are you doing this?" Iruka yelled.

"My reasons are none of your business weakling!" Mizuki shot back. "I've always wanted to make you suffer, and now I'm gonna enjoy killing you." He charged Iruka, and swatted him into a tree with a stiff backhand, knocking him out. Mizuki reared back his hand to deliver a killing blow to Iruka's head, when all of a sudden he was cut off by a kunai sailing past his head. He then saw Naruto walking up towards him.

"Well well. Looks like I get to kill the demon brat after all. Tell me Naruto, do you want to know why the whole village hates y-"

"Save it!" Naruto yelled. "I already know about Kyuubi. Right now that doesn't matter. You've betrayed Konoha, now you must pay the price." With that he summoned Fencer, and had it charge at Mizuki. It's rapiers slashed at his body inflicting minor wounds on his arms, and chest. Mizuki counted by kneeing it in the chest, sending it flying back to Naruto.

"You think you can beat me with those mere toys?!" Mizuki laughed. "Allow me to show you my true power!" With that he powered up his cursed seal to level two, causing him to take the a tiger-like appearance.

"Hmmm... Interesting, I was planning to just kill you, but now your body might have other uses to me." Naruto said in an observational tone.

Mizuki began to advance on the boy. "Like a little brat like you could ever get the chance t- AAAGGGHHHH!!" Mizuki screamed as he felt something large stab him in the back. Turning his head he saw he'd been stabbed by a puppet resembling a muscular six-and-a-half-foot-tall-man, wearing nothing but a loincloth, and elaborate headdress, holding a spear and a shield.

"I see you've met Saba Simba, Mizuki-teme." Naruto taunted. "The poison in his spear should be taking effect by now." At this point Mizuki felt his muscles, and joints begin to stiffen at a rapid pace. "Don't worry your suffering will end soon, along with your life." At that point Saba Simba opened it's mouth, and fired a single senbon with a high-enough velocity, to completely penetrate Mizuki's brain stem, killing him instantly. Mizuki's body then began to revert to it's original form, but Naruto quickly formed several handseals to reverse the process.

Resealing his puppets, Naruto walked up to Mizuki's body, and hefted him onto his shoulders. "Now lets get you back to my place." He said as he Shunshin'd away. Unknown to him Iruka had awoke just to see the last few seconds of the fight.

_"Naruto?" _He thought. _"What have you become?"_

**And that is the end of that chapter. In my own opinion this chapter was sub par, and if any of you also think so I apologize to you. I also realize that some of my puppet ideas are kinda either lame, or unrealistic, and if any of you think so I apologize to you as well. Hopefully in future chapters I can advance the story, and have more exiting things take place. In the meantime here's another puppet profile.**

**Name: **Saba Simba

**Description: **a six-and-a-half-foot-tall puppet resembling a muscular bald man, wearing nothing but a loincloth, and elaborate headdress, holding a spear and a shield. designed with upper body strength in mind.

**Weapons: **Spear, hand carried, can be poisoned; Shield, mounts 4x shuriken launcher, shurikens can be poisoned, hand carried, High velocity senbon launcher, mounted in mouth, can be poisoned.

(Note: Can you guess where I got the idea for this puppet from?)


	6. Gennin Exam

**Chapter 6: Genin Exam**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise, just my puppets and a few assorted OC's. Also congratulations for those who figured out where I got the idea for my last puppet from. What can I say, I'm a fan of obscure pro wrestling gimmicks hardly no one remembers.**

(Konoha Ninja academy the next day.)

Iruka looked uneasily at Naruto, he remembered what happened after seeing Naruto leave with the body He picked up the forbidden scroll left behind, and went to report what he saw to the Hokage. To his surprise the Hokage simply brushed it off, and told him to keep quiet, and not worry about it. He said whatever Naruto did with Mizuki, that Mizuki had it coming when he stole the scroll and tried to flee. Iruka tried to for now put this in the back of his mind as he called the teams out.

"Team Seven will consist of Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke.

"YES!!" Cheered Sakura._**"Eat that Ino-pig, CHA!" **_Went Inner Sakura.

"Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight will consist of Yamanaka Ino, Uzumaki Naruto, and Hyuuga Hinata. Your sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai" Iruka continued the three mentioned had different thoughts.

_"Well at least I have Naruto on my team, not bad."_Thought Ino.

_"Hehehee... I get to be on a team with three ladies." _Naruto's inner pervert raved.

_"I get to be on a team with Naruto-kun."_ Hinata thought as she started to feel faint.

Shortly after the other teams were called. A woman with dark hair, red eyes, and wearing a dress that looked like it was made of eighty-five percent bandages entered the classroom. "Team Eight please come with me." She said. The three ninja followed her out without a word.

(Later in a small clearing near the forest.)

The newly-formed Team Eight was sitting on a bench while their sensei stood before them. "So why don't you three tell me about yourselves. I'll go first. I'm Yuhi Kurenai I like genjutsu, children, and my friends. I dislike overly perverted men, smokers, and people who judge others without getting to know them. My goal is to see all three of you attain the rank of chunnin."

Ino then spoke up. "I'm Yamanaka Ino. I like flowers, Sasuke-kun, and... (Looks at Naruto and giggles.) My dislikes are forehead-girl, and people who badmouth my friends. My dream is... (Fantasizes about being double-teamed by Naruto, and Sasuke.) Heheheheheeee." She giggled as her nose began to bleed.

"I see..." Kurenai said as she sweatdropped. "How about you?" She asked turning towards Hinata.

"M- My name is Hyuuga Hinata. I like flowers, water, and my little sister. I do- I don't like the way my family conducts it's buisness, and people who are generally mean to others. My goal is to unite the main, and branch houses of the Hyuuga clan, so that my cousin Neji, and best friend Ranfa don't have to be servants anymore."

"Now you." Kurenai said as she turned to Naruto.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, son of the Yodaime Hokage. My likes are ramen, puppets, and learning jutsu. My dislikes are overly judgemental people, people who betray their homelands, and overly egotistical people. My goal is to become Hokage, and to resurrect the Namikaze clan."

At the mention of the name Namikaze, Kurenai was frozen in shock. It was no secret that as a child and teenager, she had the biggest crush on the young handsome Hokage. Finally she spoke. "Excuse me for one minute." She said as she shunshin'd to the other side of the village, and gave the loudest, longest fangirl squeal in Fire Country's history. After composing herself she shunshin'd back to the team's location. "Okay tomorrow we will have a survival test to see if you are ready to become Gennin."

"But we just became Gennin." Ino tried to argue.

"And this test will prove whether you are truly ready to become a ninja, if you fail you will be sent back to the academy. I should warn you though this test only has a thirty-three percent chance of passage. This meeting is now over." Kurenai said as she shunshin'd away.

Ino was the first one to speak up. "This is bullshit!" She yelled.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle, he was expecting this, as Mikoto had given him a heads-up yesterday. "Don't worry about it girls." Naruto said. "No matter what the test is, I'll be there to help us pass it."

"Th... Thank you Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a smile.

"You two just head home, and get some rest. Be sure to eat a decent breakfast, especially you Ino-chan. I'm not going to have our team get held back because you chose to starve yourself in order to keep your figure.

Ino huffed in annoyance before finally saying. "Fine... I'll eat breakfast tomorrow."

"Good... see you tomorrow." Naruto said as he too Shunshin'd away.

(That night, Naruto's apartment.)

Naruto was making alterations to the Kyuubi seal on his stomach. Much to Kyuubi's protest.

_**"Gaki I think this is a bad idea, if you screw this up. We could both end up dead."**_ She ranted in his mind.

"Don't worry Kyuubi-chan, we've been studying this for years now. If this works we'll be able to be together." Naruto said as he flashed through several handseals.

_**"But we still don- Wait I'm not ready!"**_She tried to protest but it was too late as he finished the jutsu. There was a flash of light and an explosion of red smoke. Both Kyuubi, and Naruto were in extreme pain. When the smoke cleared Naruto saw Kyuubi laying in front of his body. Naruto crawled towards her and embraced her unconscious form.

Only for Kyuubi to spring to life, and conk him on the head. "You jackass!" She yelled. "I told you I wasn't ready, do you realize how close you came to killing yourself?!"

"Yeah but you're here Kyuubi-chan." Naruto said with a smile. "That makes it all worth it."

Realizing she could now be with Naruto in the real world was a happy epiphany to the demon. She promptly glomped Naruto, and kissed him passionately. "Thank you Naruto-kun, but I still have to punish you for your recklessness." Kyuubi said as four of her tails each grabbed Naruto by a limb and hefted him into the air.

Naruto gulped as he felt the remaining five tails produce red chakra blades, and one by one sliced off his clothes. He knew he was in for a long night.

(The next day)

When Ino, and Hinata arrived at the meeting location, they were shocked to find a half-dead-looking Naruto laying on the ground in front of them.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Ino yelled.

Naruto didn't answer he just got a goofy grin on his face. It was at this point that Kurenai showed up. She took a long look at Naruto before speaking. "Your test will be to take these rings off my fingers." She held up her hands revealing a single blue ring on each middle finger. "Whoever does not have a ring by noon will fail this exam."

"But there's only two rings." Ino observed.

"Exactly so one of you will indeed fail." Kurenai said. "If you want them you'll have to come at me with intent to kill."

As he finally mustered the effort to get up, Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. He knew if he did that Kurenai-sensei would be dead, and the test would be over in less than a minute.

"The test will start NOW!" She said. Ino, and Hinata leapt into the forest, but Naruto stayed here. He casually summoned Fencer, Killer Clown, and Saba Simba.

"Your intimidation tactics won't work on me." Naruto told her. "I've trained under much more frightening individuals."

"So I've heard." Kurenai retorted.

Killer Clown fired a kunai from it's mouth, but Kurenai was able to easily dodge it. Saba Simba then rushed her and tried to stab her with it's spear. Kurenai performed a forward gymnastics-style flip over the large puppet. Fencer then detached it's hands which went flying at the Jonnin, but just as it's swords were about to connect, Kurnai seemingly disolved into a pile of flower petals.

Up in the trees Kurenai was watching Naruto, and his puppets at work. _"His skill with those things is impressive." _She thought. _"I wonder how he'd fare against the puppeteers of Suna though?"_Just then Kurenai felt a kunai lightly pressing into her back. Turning her head she saw Naruto was holding the weapon. "Hmmm I see you know Kage Bunshin." Kurenai observed.

"It's one of the best techniques a ninja can have in his arsenal." Naruto answered. "Especially one such as me."

"It won't be enough for you on your own." Kurenai said as she suddenly back-kicked Naruto in the gut, causing the bunshin to dispel. She leaped out of the tree onto the ground.

_"Just what I was hoping for!" _Naruto thought as he had fencers lower arms fire a pair of white orbs at the spot Kurenai was going to land. The orbs exploded leaving a puddle of white paste. Kurenai didn't have time to manuver as her sandaled feet landed on the sticky paste and were glued to the ground.

"You're trapped, now hand over those rings." Naruto ordered.

But Kurenai instead pulled out two shuriken, and threw them downwards. They sliced through the straps of her sandals, prompting Kurenai to leap out of them into a cartwheel where she came to a stop about ten feet away. Taking a look at her abandoned footwear and back to Naruto she then spoke in an annoyed tone. "That paste better be removable, otherwise you're going to owe me for new shoes."

"I'll be sure to get them out for you, after I pass the test." Naruto said as he began to quickly flash through some handsigns. "Fire Release: Burning surface technique!" Naruto yelled as he placed his hands on the ground, and a burning red aura began to rapidly spread outwards from the point he was standing.

Kurenai immediately knew what Naruto was trying to do. He was heating the ground to the point where it would be impossible to stand barefoot on it without being burned. _"I see, that was his plan all along."_Not wanting to be burned, she leaped back into the trees before the aura could reach her, and ran off.

_"Good just as I hoped for." _Naruto thought He then called out. "Ino, Hinata you can come out now."

The two kunoichi came out of hiding. "What was that all about?!" Ino yelled.

"I had to drive her off for us to have this talk." Naruto told them. "I have a plan for all three of us to pass, but in order for it to work, the three of us have to work together."

"I'll work with you Naruto-kun." Hinata told him.

"I guess I'll go along too." Ino said after a moment. "So what do you have in mind."

"Don't worry I've got a plan." Naruto said with a smirk.

**And that's where I'm gonna end this chapter for now. I had originally planned to put the entire gennin exam in this one, but I decided not to let you wait anymore for the next chapter. I hope to have the next one up in a few weeks. **


	7. Gennin Exam part 2

**Chapter 7: Gennin Exam Part Two**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto francise.**

Kurenai was leaping through the trees trying to find a way out of this forest. Thus far every time she came upon the edge of the woods, at least fifty Narutos were waiting to ward her off with barrage after barrage of thrown kunai and shuriken. She came to a stop on a branch to rest for a second, when she heard a distinct _THUNK_sound on the other side of the tree. When she turned around she saw the base of the tree had a kunai with an exploding tag embedded into the trunk. She leaped away just as the tag went off, felling the tree. As she was in the air, three owl puppets flew through the air and slashed at her with their talons,. Kurenai dodged and weaved as best she could, and managed to avoid getting cut. (Although the same couldn't be said for her dress, which was cut in several revealing places.) Kurenai then delivered an axe kick to one owl's head sending it crashing to the ground. She then stuck an exploding tag on the side of another and punched it away as it went off, destroying the owl.

Seeing a spot on the ground that was not red hot, she twisted her body, and bounded off another tree at the last second just as the third owl came flying at her. The owl crashed into the tree, and broke apart. She landed on the ground gracefully. Hearing a loud trampling sound, she turned around to see a large wooden Rhinoceros charging at her. She leaped over it only to have the "tail" of the puppet shoot out, and wrap around her leg slamming her into the ground and dragging her behind it. Being dragged along the ground effectively destroyed what remained of her dress, and leg wrappings leaving Kurenai in only her white underwear. At that moment The puppets back burst open, and Hinata leaped out just as the puppet released Kurenai from it's grip.

"Juken!" Hinata yelled out as she performed several strikes to a disorinted Kurenai cutting off several vital tenketsu. At this point Ino came out of the bushes, and performed her Shintenshin no Jutsu sucessfully possessing Kurenai's body. She then took off Kurenai's rings, and passed them to Naruto, and Hinata before returning to her body.

Kurenai took a moment to put her humiliation aside. "Congratulations you all passed." She said. "You figured out that the purpose of the test was about teamwork, and for that I applaud you, but... DID YOU HAVE TO DESTROY ALL MY CLOTHES?!" Kurenai yelled clearly upset.

Naruto shrugged before answering. "It's not our fault you chose to wear such fragile garments. Perhaps now in the future you'll choose to wear something more practical in battle."

Kurenai didn't know whether to praise this kid for his intelligence, or to strangle him. "What the hell am I supposed to wear now?" She asked trying to cover herself with her arms.

"I have something for you. Naruto said as he pulled out a scroll, and wiped some blood across it.

"NO!! I'M NOT WEARING THAT!!" Kurenai yelled at she saw it. Hinata and Ino were speechless.

"Gotta go Kurenai-hime-sensei. See you tomorrow." Naruto said as he grabbed Hinata, and Ino and Shunshin'd away.

Kurenai simply stood there for a minute before screaming. "NARUTO!!"

**(10 minutes later, Hokage tower.)**

Saurtobi, and his son Asuma were sitting in the Hokage's office waiting on the other two sensei's to arrive. Needless to say both were shocked to see Kurenai storm into the room wearing a pink bunny costume. (A mascot costume.) "Team Eight passes." She said through gritted teeth. Asuma couldn't help but snicker at the sight of Kurenai, which was a big mistake as Kurenai whirled around and punched him in the face, knocking him clean out. She then stormed out of the office not even bothering to wait for Kakashi.

_"Typical Naruto..."_Sarutobi thought as he heard Kakashi laughing hystericly outside his office, followed by him screaming in severe pain.

**(A couple hours later. Naruto's apartment.)**

After taking Ino, and Hinata out to Ichiraku to celebrate their passing, then escorting both of them back to their homes. He arrived back to his home, and when he entered it to find a familiar pair of sandals at the entrance. _"Those look like Mikoto's... OH SHIT!!"_Naruto thought as he entered the kitchen to find both Kyuubi, and Mikoto sitting at the kitchen table chatting happily. Upon seeing him Mikoto said in a voice that sounded happy yet annoyed. "Hello Naruto-kun."

"Mikoto-hime, I can explain!" Naruto yelled trying to save face.

"It's okay... I was freaked out when I saw her, but she calmed me down, and explained a lot of things to me, and... I understand why you let her out, and that she only has three-percent of her power. I won't tell anyone about this Naruto-kun." Mikoto explained.

"Thank you Mikoto-hime." Naruto answered. "But why did you come here?"

"Why else..." Mikoto said as she pointed to a grocery bag. "I came to cook you a meal, you deserve to live on something other than ramen." Mikoto said as she stood up, and began working on a meal.

**(Later that night.)**

After they had all eaten, Mikoto had left to go back to the compound. Naruto and Kyuubi both went to bed, Kyuubi snuggled him close wrapping two of her tails around him along with her arms. Over a half hour had passed, and Kyuubi was already fast asleep. Naruto had just begun to doze off when he felt something begin to crawl into bed with them. Naruto quickly spun around in an attempt to defend himself, but was instead shocked to find Mikoto there.

"Mikoto what are yo-" Naruto tried to yell but she silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"Please don't turn me away Naruto-kun. I want to sleep here tonight." She told him.

"But what about Sasuke, won't he worry where you are." Naruto tried to reason.

Mikoto's face darkened for a second. "I don't want to hurt my son, but at the same time I cannot deny how much you mean to me. One night in your arms won't harm anyone too badly. Please Naruto just this once let me hold you not as a mother, but as something more than that."

Naruto looked at Kyuubi who was still asleep. "Okay." He said as he lifted up the covers. "Just for this one night."

Mikoto crawled in with him, and settled down. He felt one of her silk-soft feet brush against his own, making him silver a little at the feel of her. He knew even if this one was only for one night, that nothing would be the same between him and the Uchiha matriarch, and to be honest he welcomed what ever was to come. As Mikoto snuggled up to him, she began to doze off immediately. As she fell asleep she muttered three simple words. "I love you." As she went into dreamland.

_"I love you too." _Naruto thought as the heartbeats of the two beautiful himes in his bed lulled him into sleep.

**Well that is the end of another chapter. Sorry I took so long to update I was just super out of it for awhile. I don't know when I'll have the next chapter up, but I'll try to have it up in less time than it took to put up this one. In the meantime here's two more puppet profiles.**

**Name: **Owl

**Description: **A wooden replica of an owl, mostly just used for harassing targets. Naruto has three of these.

**Weapons: **Beak, claws, can be poisoned.

**Name: **Rhino

**Description: **A large wooden and metal Rhino. Hollowed out back that can hold another person inside it, can be operated from the inside.

**Weapons: **Large Horn, can be poisoned; Kunai Launcher, mounted in mouth, can be poisioned and/or have explosive tags attached; extendable "whip" tail, can be poisoned.


	8. Training, and Waves

****

Chapter 8: Training, and Waves

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise, It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, also note this chapter will contain what some might consider to be mild Kurenai bashing. I'm not doing this because I hate her or anything. I just want to have some conflict between her and Naruto for the time being. Also please note that I started a forum related to the discussion of this story.

It was a calm and peaceful day in Konoha. The sun was shining, the air was neither too warm, nor too cool, and a nice breeze was blowing. Truly it was the perfect day.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!" Screamed Ino as she ran from a rapidly attacking Fencer slashing at her back with it's rapiers.

Okay... Maybe not "perfect" for everybody.

Hinata was sparring with Naruto, while he used Fencer to spar with Ino. Hinata was getting frustrated, every time she got close to landing a blow, he'd not only manage to gracefully evade it, but countered with a quick spin kick in retaliation.

_"At least Hinata-chan is fighting back now."_ Naruto thought with a grimace._ "All Ino-chan has done for the last fifteen minutes is run away screaming."_ Losing his patience Naruto yelled out. "Ino if you don't start fighting back, I'll have Saba Simba join the fight!"

That made Ino change her tune, whipping out a pair of kunai, she quickly began blocking, and parrying Fencer's attacks as best she could. The puppet managed to score superficial blows to her arms and legs, but they did no damage since Naruto had replaced it's regular fencing swords with blunt-tipped training swords for this spar.

After a few more minutes of this, Naruto stopped, and shouted. "Enough! That it for Taijutsu practice." Pulling out two scrolls he then tossed them to the girls. "Each of these scrolls contain the instructions for three separate Ninjutsu, I want you to study and practice them in your spare time." Ino, and Hinata both nodded at Naruto, for they knew he was just trying to help them."

It was at this point that Kurenai showed up. Kurenai had obtained a new outfit after her old clothes were destroyed, during the Gennin exam. She now wore a shin-length red skirt with a thigh-high slit on the right side, along with a loose red shirt, with a long right sleeve, and a short left sleeve. She completed the look with a green Jonin vest and a new pair of ninja sandals that were black. All in all Naruto thought it was an improvement, in terms of attractiveness, and durability. (But about the same in terms of practicality.)

She looked at the girls, and knew that Naruto had put them through some training of his own. This was not pleasing to her, ever since they became genin, Naruto had basically taken both girls under his wing, and shut her out for the most part. The worst was that outside of missions he would almost never acknowledge her. She had cut him some slack on account of him being Minato's son at first, but now she was getting annoyed by his cold shoulder.

"Okay Team are you ready to start missions?" She asked them to which she got the following responses.

"Hell yeah!" Yelled Ino

"Yes Sensei." Responded Hinata politely.

Naruto simply nodded while giving her a slight glare. That was the last straw for Kurenai, she was going to find out what was Naruto's problem right here, right now. "Alright Hinata, Ino head straight for the Hokage Tower. Naruto stay here I need to talk to you."

Ino, and Hinata looked confused, for a second, but they quickly brushed it aside and walked off. After they were gone Kurenai then turned to Naruto. "Alright I want to know what is your problem. Ever since I became your teacher you've done nothing but undermine, and disregard me. I want to know why."

Naruto sighed. He didn't mean to be so blatent in his troubles with her, in fact at first he didn't have any. But then he remembered what he saw in her file, when he snuck into the records. He couldn't just ignore what he saw. He had to confront the issue before it tore at his soul, and drove him to do or say something stupid.

"Before us... Before this team... You had another student." Naruto stated.

Kurenai froze "Yes... I did." She said pretty sure that wherever this was going, she was not going to like it.

"Tell me... if things get rough... will you abandon the three of us... like you did to HER!?" Naruto shouted getting angrier with every word.

"Naruto... listen... back then I had to..." Kurenai tried to say.

"SAVE IT!!" Naruto yelled. Naruto then froze, and took a minute to compose itself. "I'm sorry Sensei, but I have lost my respect for you, and I don't know if I'll get it back. I can't get over the fact that I have a Sensei that would give up on a student."

"It's not like I wanted to." Kurenai said with her head down a bit trying to hide at least some of her shame.

"Even when things were at their worst Sasori-san never gave up on me." Naruto thought out loud.

__

FLASHBACK

Naruto was trying to perform the Kugutsu no Jutsu on a simple training puppet. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get the puppet to move. It had just begun to turn dark when Sasori came up to him.

"Come Naruto, night is upon us, you must rest." Sasori said.

"But Sasori-sensei, I can get it to move, I just need a little time. Please just a little more."

Sasori stood there in silence for a moment before saying. "Very well. I will give you another half of an hour, no more." He said as he slinked away.

For the next twenty-eight minutes Naruto worked even harder on the jutsu. Finally at the last minute Naruto finally got a chakra string to conect to the puppets hand and make it's finger move a little.

"YES!! I did it!" Naruto yelled just as Sasori's voice came calling for him. Satisfied that he had at least gotten a finger to move, Naruto packed up, and headed back to camp.

END FLASHBACK

"I'm sorry." Was all Kurenai could say.

"Don't apologize to me. You need to apologize to Miss Karuma. Now if we're done here, can we please join Hinata-chan, and Ino-chan in receiving our missions?" He asked her.

"Yes... We may." Kurenai said as she began walking to the tower. _"Yakumo, I promise I will do you right, and Naruto I promise I will earn your respect back." _Kurenai thought to herself in an attempt to strengthen her resolve.

(At the Hokage Tower.)

As Team Eight entered the Hokage's office, Sarutobi looked up at them. "Ah good morning... After much consideration I have decided that you are ready for a C-rank mission."

"Finally!" Ino shouted in elation. "I was getting so sick of those dumb chores!" Although Naruto chose to remain silent for now, deep down he was thinking the same thing.

"Glad to see you're exited. Send him in!" Sarutobi shouted. An old, obviously drunken man entered the office. "This is it?" He asked. "These little brats don't look like they could protect a pile of shit, let alone me." He slurred.

"WHAT DID HE SAY?!" Ino yelled as she tried to lunge at him, only to be held back by Naruto, Hinata, and Kurenai. "LET ME AT HIM!! LET ME AT HIM!!"

"Sorry Ino-chan but your anger leaves me no choice." Naruto said as he began rapidly tickling Ino's sides. In seconds Naruto had her on the floor laughing her head off, and begging him to stop. Naruto then let her go, and stood up with her following, much to the bewilderment of everyone in the room.

"My point still stands." The man said to the Hokage.

"Mr. Tazuna, I assure you that despite what have you just witnessed, these four ninja will be sufficient for this mission." Sarutobi said to him before turning to the team. "Your mission is to accompany Mr. Tazuna back to Wave Country, and protect him until he can complete working on a bridge. Understood?"

"Yes Hokage-sama." The team all said in unison.

"Good." The Hokage said. "You leave in two hours, prepare yourselves, then report at the village gate at that time. Dismissed."

(Later at Naruto's appartment.)

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with Gaki?" Kyuubi asked Naruto as he packed up.

"No Kyuubi-hime. I'll be just fine on my own this time." Naruto said to her as he walked up, and gave her a hug. "You sure you'll be okay by yourself? I mean I don't know when I'll be back."

"Don't worry Gaki, if I need to leave the house for anything, I can always henge." She reminded him as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thank you for understanding Kyuubi-hime." He said as he kissed her back on the lips. "There's just one thing I want to ask you."

"Oh really?" The Kyuubi said with a smirk as if she knew in advance what he was going to ask of her.

"Would you please look after Mikoto-hime while I'm gone?" He asked.

"You really care for her don't you?" The Kyuubi asked.

"Yes... I mean at first I thought she was just this really nice lady, then the buissness with Itachi happened, and after that she became like a mother to me, but now... Now I have other feelings, like an emptiness that will only fill when I'm in her presence. She was the first woman I met who ever cared for me, and if something happened to her while I was gone... I'd never be able to forgive myself." He said sadly.

"Tell me." Kyuubi began. "Your feelings for her, are they greater than your's for me?"

Naruto answered in less than a second. "I honestly don't know. All I know is that I would gladly die to protect either of your lives."

"Don't worry Naruto." Kyuubi said getting Naruto's attention as she usually just called him "Gaki". "I'll protect her until you get back. You have my word as a great demon lord." She said.

"Thank you Kyuubi-hime. I'll try to be back as soon as I can." Naruto said as he finished packing, just as he was about to head out, Mikoto entered the room. "Oh thank goodness, you're still here I came as soon as I heard you were going on a mission." She said.

"I'll leave you two alone." The Kyuubi said as she walked out of the room.

"I heard you were leaving, and I just wanted to wish you luck." Mikoto said with a bit of a sad smile.

"Don't worry Mikoto-hime, I'll come back I promise." He said as he hugged her briefly, which she returned. "Goodbye." He said as he ran out, and away on a new journey.

(A while later on the road to Wave Country.)

The group had, been on a pretty uneventful walk, until Naruto, and Kurenai both spotted a puddle on the road._ "That's weird it hasn't rained in days. Must be a trap."_Both thought. As they passed by it, two ninja wearing gauntlets connected by an edged chain emerged from the puddle, and charged wrapping their chain around Kurenai, they then yanked on their chain hard tearing her body to shreds.

"SENSEI!!" Both Hinata, and Ino shouted in horror. Naruto just casually stood there. _"The infamous Oni Brothers of Kiri. Missing-Nin. Looks like I'll have two sets of brothers in my collection."_He darkly thought. The brothers then charged at Tazuna, ready to have him meet the same fate as Kurenai. However they were cut off as Kyuubi Cerberus was quickly summoned, and grabbed the chain in it's jaws, then stabbed the two brothers in numerous places with it's tail spikes. Killing both brothers.

_"Fools..."_

_Naruto thought. "If they hadn't have been so eager for blood, they might have had more of a chance. But I guess you have to take any victory you can get." _Just then Kurenai emerged. "Nice work Naruto, although we could have used one being alive for interrogation."

"Yeah, sorry about that Sensei." He told her.

"In the meantime." Kurenai said as she turned to Tazuna. "You have some explaining to do."

(A few minutes later.)

"This was not what we signed on for Mr. Tazuna. Regardless of your country's problems. This mission is officially over. We're going home." Kurenai said.

"No." Naruto said making everyone stare at him. "I'm not leaving this man."

"Naruto..." Kurenai began. "I am the squad leader, and I'll say whether or not we keep going."

"Fine go ahead. Sensei. Turn your back on this man, that seems to be what you're best at!" He yelled. Ino, and Hinata were dumbfounded. Kurenai looked like she wanted to slap him.

"Sensei..." Hinata began. "I want to see this mission through to the end."

"Yeah... If we abandon these people in their time of need, that will reflect badly on the whole village." Ino added.

"Sensei... I will continue this mission with or without your approval. It's your choice." Naruto told her.

Dejected Kurenai lowered her head, then she turned to Tazuna. "If we help you complete this bridge, are you sure Wave's economy will improve enough to pay for a higher ranked mission?" She asked.

"Oh yes. I'm staking my entire life on it!" He said.

"Very well. Let's move out, we've wasted enough time here."

"Yes Sensei!" Hinata, and Ino yelled. Naruto didn't answer he just walked over to the bodies of the Oni Brothers, and sealed them into a scroll.

"Naruto-kun... What are you doing?" Hinata asked.

"These bodies have use to me... I'm sorry Hinata-hime, but for the sake of preserving your innocence, I can tell you no more." Naruto told her as he began walking along, and everyone followed.

(Several hours later.)

The group had just gotten off a boat on the shores of Wave Country, and were now proceding to walk towards Tazuna's house.

"Hinata-hime." Naruto whispered to her. "Use your Byakugan to scope out the area around us. An attack could come from any direction.

"Alright Naruto-kun." Hinata said as the bulging vains around her eyes signified the activation of her Doujutsu. No less than five seconds after she yelled out. "Everybody get down!" Everyone hit the floor just as a large lightning bolt flew past them. It collided with a tree blowing it into a million pieces.

"Damn you were able to dodge it." A man said as he stepped onto the scene, he was carrying two strange-looking swords, and appeared to have some sort of large satchel on his back. "No matter, if you put up some resistance, that makes it all the more fun."

Kurenai's eyes widened at the sight of the man. "Sensei who is that!?" Ino yelled in a panicky manner.

"Raiga Kurosuki." Kurenai answered. "One of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri."

****

And so ends another chapter of this story. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna turn some people off with this little development. Don't worry about Zabuza, and Haku. I have other plans for them. Needless to say the history in this fanfic will be different than in regular cannon. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. I'll try to have the next chapter up by October.


	9. Enter Raiga Kurosuki

**Chapter 9: Enter Raiga Kurosuki!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise, It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

"Protect Tazuna! I'll deal with him." Kurenai yelled to her students as she drew a kunai, and braced herself. "Raikyuu!" Raiga yelled as a ball of lightning shot out of his swords. The group all leeped out of the way, as the ball impacted the ground making a small crater. Kurenai twisted to land on him, and tried to bring her kunai down on his head, but Raiga blocked it with his sword, channeling lightning into the blade Raiga sent several thousand volts into Kurenai. As she screamed in pain, Raiga stabbed her in the stomach with his other sword. Just then Kurenai disappeared in a puff of smoke signifying she was a Kage Bunshin.

"Huh... Where did she go?" He asked. Just then several tree branches grew out of the ground around him, and bound him to the spot he was standing. Kurenai emerged from the top of the tree, kunai raised to stab him. When the Kunai made contact however electricity surged through Kurenai as Raiga dissolved into water. As the Genjutsu broke Kunrenai slumped to the ground in pain, the the real Raiga emerged from the dirt nearby. "Raikyuu!" He called as another ball of Lightning was shot at her.

Only for the attack to be blocked as a literal "wall" of Kage Bunshins shot between her and the attack. Taking the deadly blast and disappearing in a mass puff of smoke, effectively blinding everyone in the resulting cloud. "Not gonna happen asshole!" Naruto called out. As a half-donzen kage bunshin's charged at Raiga from all sides.

"I'm not done yet...." Raiga began. "Dual Lightning Whip!" He yelled as two long tentacles of lightning emerged from his swords. He then swung them around easily destroying the Bunshins. "Now it's time to finish you worms off!" He yelled as he began swinging the swords around like crazy sending the lightning tentacles everywhere.

"Damnit!" Ino cried as she and Hinata both grabbed Tazuna and did their best to manuever him away from Raiga's attacks. "How the hell can he see us though all this smoke?"

"I don't know." Hinata responded. "I'm picking up something strange with my Byakugan. It's like something is creating interference."

"Hinata, Ino! I'm coming to help you!" Naruto yelled. However he was cut off by five Mizu Bunshins of Raiga. "I don't have time for you!" Naruto yelled as he threw a swift kick into the chest of one, only to receive a massive electric shock as the clone dispersed. "Okay..." Naruto began as he recovered in time to dodge the remaining Mizu Bunshin's sword slashes. "That is a neat trick. Electrifying your Mizu Bunshin's looks like I have to play hardball." He said as he quickly summoned Tetsuryuu. "Tetsuryuu Special: Burning Dragon Vortex!" He called out as the large Dragon puppet, released a whirling column of fire that vaporised the Mizu Bunshins.

Meanwhile Hinata, and Ino were moving away along with Tazuna, Raiga's tentacles snapping behind them. Suddenly Hinata lost her footing and fell to the ground.

"Hinata no!" Ino cried as she saw Raiga's tentacles rise up above her to come down hard. Just as they came down however Kurenai came out of nowhere and threw herself over Hinata as the Tentacles struck her.

The resulting scream of pain could be heard a few miles away. Kurenai then went limb and fell to the ground.

"Sensei..?" Hinata called in fear as she tried to shake Kurenai awake. "SENSEI!!!" Raiga's tentacles retracted and dispersed. Chuckling he then said. "Ha I got one finally."

"You sure did Raiga." A voice from inside his satchel said.

Naruto saw the whole thing. In an instant he was in front of Kurenai and Hinata. "You monster." He began. "How dare you enjoy taking the lives of anyone, let alone a woman." Taking a step forward he coldly said. "I'm going to enjoy making YOU into a puppet." With that he pulled out a blue scroll with some elegant writing on it. Wiping some blood on it, a puppet appeared in a puff of smoke. What it was put a look of utter shock on Raiga's face. It resembled a living woman with long sea green hair, complete with real looking skin, wearing a light blue gown, and heeled sandals. "She" had two tridents on her back.

"It can't be..." Raiga began. "That's."

"Michiru Kazimi." Naruto began. "Commander of Kiri's infamous bloodline death squads."

"Bloodline death squads?" Hinata asked to herself fearfully. She herself had never heard of them, but was already afraid of them.

"Impossible!" Raiga cried. "You expect me to believe a mere child could have wiped them all out by himself."

"Who said I took them on alone." Naruto said. "Sasori-sensei fought alongside me that day."

"I won't go down like this! Kirigakure no Jutsu!" Raiga called as a thick mist spread over the area, and several images of Raiga appeared around Naruto. "Lets see if you can get me now."

Naruto simply had the puppet do some hand signs, then called out. "Kirigakure Kai!" The mists quickly scattered.

"That... That puppet, can use jutsu." Raiga said in shock. "It won't make a difference!" He screamed as he sent another ball of lightning at Naruto, only for it to be blocked by a quickly-formed wall of water.

"I'm done playing around with you, now to finish you off." Naruto said as the puppet made some more hand signs. "Water release: Manatee Artillery technique!" With that the water formed into a half-dozen floating manatees. They then each fired a blast of water from their mouths which hit Raiga head on, sending him flying over fifty feet into a tree. Raiga turned in midair so that he hit the tree face first rather than on the back.

_"Something very important must be in that satchel if he was unwilling to crash into the tree back-first. Could it have had something to do with those illusions I saw during his Kirigakure no Jutsu. I mean there was no variation in his handsigns from the standard jutsu." _Naruto thought.

"I'm almost out of chakra." Raiga whispered. "I'm going to withdraw."

"Okay Raiga... I'm sorry I couldn't be better help." The voice in the satchel said.

"No it's okay Ranmaru. He's too powerful for us to fight right now. We'll get him later." Raiga said as he threw down a few smoke bombs, and took off into the woods.

"Coward! Come back, and meet your end!" Naruto yelled. However at the point he remembered Kurenai. Running back he saw Hinata, and Ino tending to the unconscious Jonin. "How is she?" Naruto asked.

"She's still breathing, but she's badly hurt." Hinata said.

"Old man." Naruto began to Tazuna who was hiding behind some bushes. "How far is it to your home now?"

"A-about five-hundred meters." Tazuna said.

"Very well, we'll head there and recuperate." Naruto said, as he picked Kurenai up, and carried her bridal style. "We have no time to lose."

--------------------------------------------------------

(Later at Tazuna's house.)

The five-hundred meter trek was uneventful, and quick. As they arrived at the house they were greeted by an adult woman. "Father what happened?" She cried as she saw the condition they were in.

"We had some run-ins with ninja hired by Gato, we should get inside quickly." Tazuna told everyone as he led the ninja inside. "This is my daughter Tsunami." Tazuna pointed to the woman.

"Hello Tsunami-sama." Naruto said. "Our squad leader is injured. Do you have a place she can rest?"

"Yes of course, I'll show you to the guest room." Tsunami told him, as she motioned him to follow her. As he followed her he passed a little boy who coldly spoke. "They're already injured, they're as good as dead."

It took a lot of effort for Naruto to resist the urge to smack the boy, or tell him off. "Who's the pessimist?" Naruto asked.

"That's my son Inari." Tsunami answered sadly. "I'm sorry he's like that." She said as she entered the guest room.

"It's alright, I've dealt with people with FAR worse attitudes." Naruto said as he entered the room, and lay Kurenai on a futon. "Does he get that from his father?" Naruto asked.

"His father died when he was a baby." She answered sadly. Naruto felt like a real jerk at that point.

"Oh... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up in the first place." Naruto said. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"Don't worry, it's alright." Tsunami said. "It's only natural for a young man to be curious about certain things."

"Mother I'm home!" A young girl about Naruto's age called as she entered the room. She had bown hair, and was wearing a sleeveless pink yukata. "Who's this, is he the ninja Ojii-san hired?"

"Yes he is." Tsunami said. "Naruto, this is my daughter Haku."

-----------------------

**And so ends this chapter with a major plot twist. I hope you liked the ride. I'm sorry it took so long, and if introducing an OC human puppet sounded too off the wall to you, I apologize for that too. I'm doing the best I can. In the meantime here is another puppet profile.**

**Name: **Michiru Kazimi

**Description: **It resembled a living woman withy long sea green hair, complete with real looking skin, wearing a light blue gown, and heeled sandals. She was the former commander of Kiri's bloodline death squads during their purge of them. However her forces ran afoul with Naruto, and Sasori, and were all killed. Her body was taken along, and made into a human puppet. Her lifelike appearance is attributed to Naruto's appreciation for female beauty, and disdain for killing, or maiming women. (He made an exception in Michiru's case on account of the genocides she was supervising.)

**Weapons: **2 x extendable trident, stored on back, hand carried in use, can be poisoned; 2 x 70-round senbon launcher, mounted in forearms, can be poisoned; 10 x small claw, retractable, mounted in fingertips, can be poisoned; 2 x small blade, retractable, mounted in shoe heels, can be poisoned.

**Jutsu: **Mostly offensive, and defensive suiton jutsu, nothing higher than B-rank.


	10. NOTICE

Sorry all... But I just can't finish this fanfic... I'm gonna put it up for adoption... If you want it, PM me, and we will work something out. What you do with the plot, or how powerfull Naruto is, or how large the harem is does not matter to me. On the condition that the pairing remains Naruto/Mikoto.

It was a fun ride while it lasted.


End file.
